Rainy is in a unique position to give advice on saving money and shoring up your finances. She's gone from "zero to hero" as I like to say, or in her case from way below zero to hero. Rainy had quite a tough financial situation going on when she started trucking so she really learned how to save money and pay off large debts over the early part of her career.

These days Rainy is in a great position and continues to move forward with her finances. She learned a lot by working through those problems and is sharing it here with everyone. There are soooo many tips and so much great advice that I highly recommend everyone reads this article. You're going to pick up a few great tips even if you're on solid ground already:

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.

Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.

Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.

Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

One question i have is how do you guys budget bills? The inconsistency in pay would drive me crazy whether it was breakdowns, bad weather or even having turned in your paperwork too late (so miles are on following weeks check).

OWI:

One question i have is how do you guys budget bills? The inconsistency in pay would drive me crazy whether it was breakdowns, bad weather or even having turned in your paperwork too late (so miles are on following weeks check).

I always like to mention - Trucking is the first place I have EVER worked where you get paid weekly.

As far as budgeting goes...
Sure, week to week, paychecks can vary significantly, but be honest - your month to month income should be fairly consistent (& hopefully, increasing, as you learn more and more from the masters here at TruckingTruth!).

Base your budget on your Avg Monthly income - that is my recommendation.

Many places outside of trucking still pay bi-weekly or Monthly. Everywhere I worked before Greater Omaha Express was Bi-weekly pay checks. My wife is a school teacher, and she gets paid once a month. We set up our automatic bill payments on the 22nd of the month because of that. Then we use my weekly checks for other expenses, savings (lol!) and living costs.

It takes some discipline, but if the rest of the world can deal with it, than intelligent, planning, self-reliant truckers can too!

BMI:

Body mass index (BMI)

BMI is a formula that uses weight and height to estimate body fat. For most people, BMI provides a reasonable estimate of body fat. The BMI's biggest weakness is that it doesn't consider individual factors such as bone or muscle mass. BMI may:

Underestimate body fat for older adults or other people with low muscle mass

Overestimate body fat for people who are very muscular and physically fit

It's quite common, especially for men, to fall into the "overweight" category if you happen to be stronger than average. If you're pretty strong but in good shape then pay no attention.

Rainy thanks for the get of debt article. Awesome!! But I do have a question for you on this. Where did you live when you were not driving? I mean specifically your off days? I thought about putting my stuff in storage and giving up my apt, but then if I did need something, I would have to look for it. Right now I have a 1bd, 1ba, and 1car garage for $800 a month. Its gated and the people who live here are pretty quite. But as you said if you want to get out of debt and make this trucking career work right, you have to willing to do the time. Anyway thanks again Rainy for posting!

One question i have is how do you guys budget bills? The inconsistency in pay would drive me crazy whether it was breakdowns, bad weather or even having turned in your paperwork too late (so miles are on following weeks check).

I've been self employed for years. Every penny I make goes into my business account, and I write myself a modest paycheck once a month, but you could do the same thing with a savings account and transfer a set amount to your checking account every week, two weeks, whatever works for your situation.

There are services that do exactly what she did, but some charge, others are funded by credit companies, donations, etc.

This is one of them, and I know nothing about them nor am I endorsing them. You are best to try working out arrangements yourself if you can, but if you can't get your lenders to agree, one of these places may be able to help. Just be aware of how they are funded. The FAQs on this one mentions fees from the client, but say most pay nothing

For some reason, I can't get this to work as a clickable ling, but here is the address.

As it would so happen? This is EXACTLY the type of information and article I personally needed to read at EXACTLY this particular point in time in my Life and during my transition into the trucking industry.

There are services that do exactly what she did, but some charge, others are funded by credit companies, donations, etc.

This is one of them, and I know nothing about them nor am I endorsing them. You are best to try working out arrangements yourself if you can, but if you can't get your lenders to agree, one of these places may be able to help. Just be aware of how they are funded. The FAQs on this one mentions fees from the client, but say most pay nothing

For some reason, I can't get this to work as a clickable ling, but here is the address.

https://www.nfcc.org

Thanks everyone! i looked into the services and all they did was negotiate the lower payments, and you would make a lump sum payment to the service and they would divy out that amount to your various creditors. they also charged you a monthly fee. so say they get your payments down to $300 per month and you owe them $350 total including their fee. you pay the service and they pay the various creditors the negotiated payment. so maybe $75 to visa, $100 to mastercard and so forth.

However, many of these services have had complaints lodged against them for not paying the creditors. Guess who gets the shaft on that? if they dont pay, your credit goes down and you have no money to pay anyone cause you paid to the service. also, the creditors are now in a position to ask for.more.money because according to them, you renigged on your last promise to pay.

As for.my address, i used my moms address and got rid of my apartment. i dont always take home time at home. sometimes i would take it in the terminal because MO is so much cheaper when it comes to shopping, food etc... sometimes half the price. My things are in storage back home. I pay for 2 lockers that comes to $300 per month. The larger one is mostly used by a family member who needed help.

i also.eventually paid off my car and sold it. That $10,000 i used to help out a family member. Think about that for a minute. Im in a position where ten grand was extra money i dont need. at least not as much as another needed it.

when i want to indulge myself in a hotel suite, good resraurant, etc... i now see it as "i dont drink, smoke, gamble or.do.drugs. i work hard and deserve a few hundred a.month for pampering myself".

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

There are services that do exactly what she did, but some charge, others are funded by credit companies, donations, etc.

This is one of them, and I know nothing about them nor am I endorsing them. You are best to try working out arrangements yourself if you can, but if you can't get your lenders to agree, one of these places may be able to help. Just be aware of how they are funded. The FAQs on this one mentions fees from the client, but say most pay nothing

For some reason, I can't get this to work as a clickable ling, but here is the address.

https://www.nfcc.org

Thanks everyone! i looked into the services and all they did was negotiate the lower payments, and you would make a lump sum payment to the service and they would divy out that amount to your various creditors. they also charged you a monthly fee. so say they get your payments down to $300 per month and you owe them $350 total including their fee. you pay the service and they pay the various creditors the negotiated payment. so maybe $75 to visa, $100 to mastercard and so forth.

However, many of these services have had complaints lodged against them for not paying the creditors. Guess who gets the shaft on that? if they dont pay, your credit goes down and you have no money to pay anyone cause you paid to the service. also, the creditors are now in a position to ask for.more.money because according to them, you renigged on your last promise to pay.

As for.my address, i used my moms address and got rid of my apartment. i dont always take home time at home. sometimes i would take it in the terminal because MO is so much cheaper when it comes to shopping, food etc... sometimes half the price. My things are in storage back home. I pay for 2 lockers that comes to $300 per month. The larger one is mostly used by a family member who needed help.

i also.eventually paid off my car and sold it. That $10,000 i used to help out a family member. Think about that for a minute. Im in a position where ten grand was extra money i dont need. at least not as much as another needed it.

when i want to indulge myself in a hotel suite, good resraurant, etc... i now see it as "i dont drink, smoke, gamble or.do.drugs. i work hard and deserve a few hundred a.month for pampering myself".

I agree, you should do it yourself if they will work with you, and they probably will. Rainy's advice is definitely the way to do it, if you can at all. And I am impressed at your success in such a short time frame. It took me years to get my credit where it is today.

The one I linked claims that most people pay nothing, but again, do your own research as I simply did a quick Google search. Many of them are simply for profit businesses. And remember, non-profit doesn't mean they don't charge.

I went to one years ago, and I don't remember if they were going to charge me or not. In the end, I was so far in debt, even their plan wouldn't have helped me, though they did give me a budget to help work my way out. In the end, I had to file bankruptcy.

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

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